If your term as PTA president is coming to an end, you’re probably looking forward to having a bit more time to yourself (unless, of course, you’re going on to be a PTA officer at another school or PTA Council). You’ve worked hard to make your PTA a success this year, and before you kick off your shoes and put your feet up, there are a few things to do to ensure that all your success is continued next year. Here’s our exit strategy guide for PTA presidents.

Wrap Up Your Term

Tempting as it is to just stop doing everything once the school year is done, there are a few things you need to wrap up before your term officially ends on June 30th. Make sure your audit committee is set up and ready to go once your fiscal year is over and that your treasurer is ready to assist the committee as needed. Also ensure that if their term is also ending, the treasurer is ready to hand over the books after the audit and will help the incoming treasurer file the PTA’s 990 form with the IRS. Make sure the final membership dues payments are sent in. If your PTA received a grant that requires reporting at the end of the grant, be sure to get that submitted as well.

Pass the Torch

Remind your officers and committee chairs to pass on procedure books and other materials to their successors or the incoming PTA president if a successor hasn’t been named yet. Pass on your materials to next year’s PTA president as well. Consider having a little meeting over coffee to share what you learned on the job this year and what you’d do different if you were serving another term. Also share with the incoming president that you’ll be available for advice, brainstorming, and a safe place to blow off steam or rant about something (or someone) that is driving them up the wall (and that you’ll keep those conversations between the two of you). Finally, let them know that you’re going to let them run the PTA their way and that you understand that may not be your way—this may be the hardest job for a past PTA president.

Look Ahead

You learned a lot during your term as a PTA president. Consider how you might want to share that hard-earned knowledge going forward. Is it joining the board of the PTA at your next school? Is your PTA a member of a PTA Council that you could serve on? Do you have a passion for a specific PTA topic, such as advocacy, Reflections, membership, or simply helping other PTAs? If so, perhaps you might consider serving on the Illinois PTA State Board of Directors, either as a member of the board or as a committee member at large.